Over
Spring Break in Texas, the Austin American Statesman published an article about Texas school districts being upset that
they were going to have to spend $100 a calculator for eighth grade students
taking the state math assessment, as required by the Texas Education Agency (TEA). The gist of several
districts' concerns is that they would rather spend the $100 on a more
versatile device for students' learning than a calculator that will one be used
only for math. And many districts already have tablet 1:1 initiatives where
both Apples' App store and Google's Play store have many free or low-cost graphing
calculator apps. Why should these districts have to spend $100 more per device,
especially given that the state issued the calculator mandate without any
funding to support it? Fast forward to March 20 and the TEA's Commissioner of
Education, Michael Williams, issued a press release allowing districts to pilot students using
graphing calculator apps on tablets on a pilot basis. This was a welcome move for districts not
wanting to spend money on calculators when they already have multifunction
tablets that already can host a calculator app. Notably missing from the
announcement was allowing other devices to be used for testing, such as laptops
or Chromebooks, which also have graphing calculator apps. Nonetheless, it is refreshing to
see a state agency trying to help districts use their funds for tools that best
match students' needs. Thursday, March 27, 2014
The Texas Calculator Debate
Over
Spring Break in Texas, the Austin American Statesman published an article about Texas school districts being upset that
they were going to have to spend $100 a calculator for eighth grade students
taking the state math assessment, as required by the Texas Education Agency (TEA). The gist of several
districts' concerns is that they would rather spend the $100 on a more
versatile device for students' learning than a calculator that will one be used
only for math. And many districts already have tablet 1:1 initiatives where
both Apples' App store and Google's Play store have many free or low-cost graphing
calculator apps. Why should these districts have to spend $100 more per device,
especially given that the state issued the calculator mandate without any
funding to support it? Fast forward to March 20 and the TEA's Commissioner of
Education, Michael Williams, issued a press release allowing districts to pilot students using
graphing calculator apps on tablets on a pilot basis. This was a welcome move for districts not
wanting to spend money on calculators when they already have multifunction
tablets that already can host a calculator app. Notably missing from the
announcement was allowing other devices to be used for testing, such as laptops
or Chromebooks, which also have graphing calculator apps. Nonetheless, it is refreshing to
see a state agency trying to help districts use their funds for tools that best
match students' needs. 
Thursday, March 6, 2014
How districts are feeding the mobile app beast?
I forgot to post this article on the Judson ISD Connect! mobile app that was done by Edtech magazine in October 2013.
Check out the article at: http://www.edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2013/10/how-districts-are-feeding-mobile-app-beast
Check out the article at: http://www.edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2013/10/how-districts-are-feeding-mobile-app-beast
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